Petty account-book and holder



UNITED STATES APATENT OFFICE,

CHARLES L. VALE, or BELOIT, WISCONSIN.

PETTY ACCOUNT-BOOK AND HOLDER.

` SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 466,384, dated January 5, 1892. Application tiled September 25, 1890. Serial No. 362.067. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.

Be it 'known that I, CHARLES L. VALE, a citizen of the United States, residing in Beloit, in the county of Rock and State of Wiscousin, have invented a new and useful Im-v provement in Petty Account-Books and Hold-y ers, of which the following is a specification.

It has been quite customary for retail tradesmen tokeep their accounts with their customers. in small books, the leaves of which consist of stubs and billheads, thelatter adapted to be severed from the stubs and handed to the customer as a statement of his account- The stub which remains in the book contains a memorandum of the name of the customer, the date covered by the bill at the time it is torn out, and the amount due. These bills and stubs have heretofore been bound up in books, each book containing the names of thecustomers Whose names begin with a number of letters-as, for instance, the customers who -maybe classed under B, C, and D would be included in one book, those under E, F, G, and H in another book,and so on.

My presentinvention is intended to obviate some of theobjections to these petty accountbooks as heretofore made. Y AIn the iirst place,

. I divide the books and put the accounts which i belong under each letter in a book by themselves, so that I avoid the diiiiculty occasioned by the iilling up of some ofthe letters of a book before the others are filled; second, when any book is used up another of the same letter may be put in its place withoutregard to the state of the other books of the series; third, the individual books are not handled and do not become soiled to the extent of those embodying severalletters, as they are not handled when entries are to be made in the accounts under other letters.

Another feature of my improvement consists in the combination, with the series ofY sin gle-letter account-books, or petty ledgers, as they may be called, of a holder open at the top and consisting of a broad bottom adapted to prevent sidewise tipping and sloping vertical sides, so that the series of books may be readily looked through in finding the one desirel, and so the series will divide into two groups at the point where the desired book lies and also remain in this divided condition until the book is replaced. The holder I prefer to make with hinged sides provided with a fastening whereby they may be drawn together and confine the books closely, the holder being thus adapted to be moved about and putin the safe at night. These and other features of the invention are more fully described below and shown in the accompanying drawings, and in the latter- Figure l is a perspective of the holder and a series of account-books, the holder being closed and ready for putting away in the safe or vault. Fig. 2 is a like View showing the fastening of the holder released and the books in condition for use.

In saiddrawings, a c represent the series of petty account-books or ledgers, each intended to contain the accounts coming under a single letter only. These books are preferably indexed on their bound ends, as indicated at b, and `also upon the cover, as shown at c. The series of lbooks ais kept in a holder constructed with an open end and top. This holder, as I prefer to construct it, consists of a bottom d broad enough to prevent sidewise tippi-ng, two sides e f, hinged to the bottom, an end g, and a cord h or other flexible attachment, adapted to permit the necessary movement to the sides and laced through openings in the sides and end. A cord i may be secured to one of the sides and caught under hooks or headed bosses j upon the other cover when it is desired to close the book. When in use, the cord t' is' released from under the bosses j, and the sides of the holder fall outward to the extent permitted by the cord h. This outward movement of the sides allows the books to be separated at any point Where the particular book which it is desired to use may be, as in Fig. 2, where the series is divided at the book containing the letter H accounts. The room afforded by the outward position of the sides also facilitates the finding of any particular book, and the separation eected in taking out one of the series remains if the books are not disturbed, so that the books are easily keptin their proper order in the holder. If desired, the books can be drawn partially out of the holder at the open end to further facilitate handling and selecting therefrom. The end g is convenient in straightenin g or bringinginto line IOC the series of account-books, and it muy be either hinged to the bottom or rigid therewith, as preferred.

I claim- 1. The combination, with e series of petty account-books, each containing the aeeou nts of :t single letter, of ztholder open at the top and undivided interiorly and having a broad bottom and sides hinged to said bottom und adapted to be opened partially and also to be closed upon the books, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, With a series ofi petty account-books, each containing the accounts of a single letter, of a holder for said books,

consisting of a. bottom, sides hinged to said bottom and adapted to be opened partially and also to be closed upon the books, and en end g, substantially as set forth.

3. The combinatiomwiththe series of petty aeoountbooks, of a holder for said books, open at the top, undivided interiorly, and having a broad bottom d, adapted to prevent endwise tipping, and sloping sides e f, substantially as Set forth.

CHARLES L. VALE.

lVtnesses:

W. C. STONE, J. CALLAHAN. 

